


Designing Our Future

by sbstevenson2



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 22:43:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14091324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbstevenson2/pseuds/sbstevenson2
Summary: Collection of one shots set in my Designing Love verse.





	Designing Our Future

**Author's Note:**

> Designing Love verse - prompt: A weekend away  
> Designing Love verse - prompt: Family time with the boys
> 
> I was so excited to receive prompts for my story, Designing Love. I decided to combine two of them into one story, so I hope you enjoy!
> 
> You don’t have to be familiar with the story to understand this one, per se, it’s a future OS set about a year after Designing Love is going to end (which is coming up soon - eek!). There may be a few details you might be confused about, but nothing to drastically change your understanding of this piece. 
> 
> If you *do* read Designing Love, then you might just find a few clues to things coming up in the last few chapters, so keep your eyes peeled ;) 
> 
> Let me know what y’all think… and check out Designing Love if you haven’t already to see how these two love birds got to this point in their relationship lol
> 
> {**************************************}

**Weekend Getaway**

 

“Are you sure you packed everything?” Regina asks, hauling her large duffle bag higher onto her shoulder.

Robin smirks over in her direction, resituating his grip on Roland’s hand while assuring his new fiancé that, “Yes, love, I got everything.”

As she rattles off a litany of items, from sunblock to hats for the boys, to extra clothes, to bathingsuits, and anything in between, he just smiles. It’s summer now, and Henry has just completed his first year of middle school. Roland will be in second grade when school starts again in August, which makes him feel older each and every day when his son reminds him of the fact.

He’d proposed to Regina two months ago, a few days before St. Patrick’s Day. It was a beautiful, quaint moment shared between the two of them with their boys. He’d taken Regina out on a picnic in the secluded park they’d shared their first lunch at after furniture shopping over a year ago, before he even knew where hiring Regina Mills to be his decorator would lead. Tink had brought the boys to the park to hide until Robin gave his signal, and he has to say he’d been very proud of Roland for keeping his sweet little giggles tucked deep inside his belly the whole time.

_He stands up from the checkered picnic blanket, pulling Regina up with him. Above them hangs fairy lights strung from pole to pole, a canopy of lights setting the scene for this moment. It’s romantic, and quaint, and he prays Regina says yes to his question._

_Robin begins humming a soft tune, wrapping his arms around her waist as hers find their way around his neck as they stand there, dancing under the fairy lights and the moon’s glow. Together, as it should be._

_After a few moments, Robin steps back, looking deep into Regina’s chocolate brown orbs. He loves her eyes, always telling her they are the window to her carefully guarded soul; a soul that she’s given him the good fortune to know and love for the past year._

_“You are so gorgeous, my love,” he tells her, leaning in to press a soft kiss to her lips. “I love looking into your eyes; I was born to gaze into them, I’m convinced.”_

_She giggles at that, always ready to poke fun at his sappy side, and shakes her head at him as he tells her how much he loves her. “I love you, too, Robin.”_

_She goes on, telling him this has been such a great date night. They’d gone to the movies earlier before taking a walk through this park, a park he knew would be empty at night, a park that held so many memories of the beginning of their relationship._

_He’d had Tink and the boys set up the blanket and canopy of lights while he took Regina to the movies; it was the perfect distraction while his friend and their boys prepared her surprise. She’d been confused when they first walked up, questioning when he had time to do all of this. He simply smiled, coyly telling her that some things are better kept secret. She’d rolled her eyes but let it drop._

_She leans into his embrace, arms still encircled around one another as they lightly sway back and forth to the sounds of the crickets chirping in the distance. She scratches tenderly at his back as she tilts her head up, beckoning him to her lips._

_He goes willingly, lowering his head to meet with hers. Their lips slide against each other’s for a few moments, all the while Robin telling himself that he needs to get going on his plan before one of their boys lets out an involuntary “yuck!” from their hiding spot._

_“Regina,” he breathes out, pulling back again to look at her intently. Her eyebrows scrunch in confusion at the sudden break of their kiss until he slips down to one knee, pulling out a black, velvet box as he does. She gasps when she sees him on one knee, bringing her hand to cover her mouth as tears spring to her eyes. “I want you to know that you are my future.”_

_He opens the box, revealing the diamond ring that he’d picked out so many weeks ago. It’s a beautiful, decent sized solitaire with a diamond encrusted band, and elegant, perfect for his love. As soon as he saw that particular stone, he just knew it was the one for Regina’s hand, the ring that she’d wear for the rest of her life to symbolize their eternal love. “I love you so much, Regina, and I am so thankful you came into my life when you did. I know you’re the one meant for me, the one I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with. Will you make me the happiest man on Earth and marry me?”_

_It doesn’t take her but a split second to join him on the blanket, falling to her knees and wrapping her hands around the sides of his face. She leans in, placing a passionate kiss to his lips as her tears slip pass her lashes and onto her skin, finding their resting place in the crevice of their joined lips. Pulling back, she nods frantically, saying, “Of course I will!” She tells him she loves him with her entire heart, her entire_ being _, and, “I would love nothing more than to be your wife.”_

_He smiles brightly, tears of his own shining in his eyes as he slides the ring onto her shaking, outstretched finger. Robin wraps his arms around her, pulling her impossibly closer once again. He remembers his signal, holding his thumb up in the air behind her back. The boys and Tink spring out from behind the tree they’d been behind, shouting their joy and running over to them._

_Regina pulls apart from Robin, shocked to see the boys there. She smiles bigger than he’s ever seen before, more tears lightly falling onto her cheeks as she stands to wrap Roland and Henry in her arms. She brings her hand from around their bodies to wipe her cheeks, taking a calming breath. The boys hug and kiss her back, even shedding a few tears of their own as Robin walks over, joining his family in this moment, while Tink stays off to the side, waiting her turn to congratulate her best friends._

It had been beautiful and perfect.

He’d planned to do it before the holiday, knowing the two of them had already made plans to go away for the weekend, just the two of them, for some _adult_ fun on the leprechaun’s day. It was filled with green beer and shamrock headbands for them both, a bit wilder than either of them had grown accustomed to over the years as single parents, but it was a good time spent with each other. Neal and Emma had joined them the second day of their trip to celebrate the  engagement of their best friends, which was a nice treat for all of them.

“Shi—,” Regina starts to curse under her breath, stopping herself and glancing at the boys, pulling him from his memory. “I think I left the tickets on the kitchen counter!”

Her voice is panicked, and he’d find her fretting adorable in any other situation, but he knows she’s slightly terrified to go on this trip. She’s never been a fan of boats, or being surrounded by nothing but water for days on end, and had confessed one night after they’d told the boys that _yes,_ they could go on this cruise they’d been begging for, that she was nervous. She’s usually so in control, always the brave one, but he can see that fear shining in her eyes, even as she tries to hide it from their children, and all he wants to do is comfort her, quell those fears, and make sure she knows it is all going to be alright. It’s going to be fun, he imagines, after all the research they’d done about the getaway, it seems like there’s going to be plenty of fun activities to keep them all entertained.

“You got the tickets, Mom,” Henry speaks up, coming to stand beside her and places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You put them in the front pocket of your purse.”

“Oh,” she breathes out, chuckling at herself as she reaches in her purse and pulls the tickets out. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

Laughing, and earning a good natured glare from Regina, Robin tells them they better walk a little faster before the ship leaves without them. They’d had to park in the large parking deck a few blocks from the boarding dock and catch a shuttle bus to take them closer to the ship. It dropped them off as close as possible, but they’re still having to walk a block or two to get there. Luckily, the boys are old enough that they are able to carry some of the lighter bags to help ease the pain in Robin’s arms. Regina definitely isn’t a light packer, claiming they were going to have no way of getting items they may have forgotten for three days, so she wanted to make sure they got it all.

“It won’t do that, Papa!” Roland exclaims, despite his quickened steps he’s now taking. “Tink isn’t here yet, they can’t leave without her!”

“Of course they won’t, baby,” Regina soothes, swinging her duffle bag to rest on her backside as she reaches out for Roland’s free hand. She tells him that they won’t let the ship leave Tink while she gives Robin a pointed look.

They’d invited Tink, his now part-time nanny and Regina’s newest full time employee now that she’s graduated design school, to help wrangle the boys on this trip. Sure, they can handle their sons just fine without her, but Regina had suggested it one night as they lay together in bed, looking at the Disney Cruise website and planning all the activities they wanted to partake in.

_“Look, Robin!” she says, running her hand along his shoulder and pulling him a little closer to the laptop screen. “They have something called ‘Fathoms’ which turns into an adult longue at night. We can maybe check that out once the boys go to bed.”_

_“We’re just going to leave the boys in the room by themselves?” he chuckles, leaning over to plug his cellphone into the charger._

_She laughs, saying, “Of course not. I was thinking maybe we could ask Tink to come with us.”_

_He raises his eyes from where they’ve been peering at her laptop to meet her chocolate brown eyes. He loves those eyes. “That sounds like a great idea, love. Give us some time alone.”_

_He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, causing Regina to giggle and swat his chest. “Exactly. Though I’m not sure how much of_ that _alone time we’ll be getting since the boy’s rooms are just across the living space from ours.”_

_His eyes go wide, mockingly, as he places a dramatic hand over his heart, vowing, “I can certainly keep quiet. It’s you we have to worry about.”_

_Laughing, she rolls her eyes saying she’ll keep quiet as much as possible. “It’ll be nice to just spend some time together for once, though.”_

_He scoots closer to her on the bed at that, placing a soft kiss into her hairline. He breathes in her scent before whispering a, “yeah,” into her hair._

_He and Regina have both been wrapping up major business deals the last few months, and they hadn’t had as much free time, so he knows she is ready to unwind and have some fun. She’d been hired by Mayor Heller to redesign both of his summer homes along with his mansion after the King’s, her farmhouse clients that had given her more than her fair share of migraines, had provided her such a glowing recommendation_ . _She had already been named by the New Yorker as the most up and coming interior designer when Robin had hired her, but since then she’s become an even bigger name in the design world after finishing her farmhouse for the Kings, and he couldn’t be prouder of her._

_His Sleep Tight and salsa campaigns had gone over swimmingly, far better than he could have even imagined. He’d just wrapped up another major client deal, completing the advertisements for Midas’ Gold & Jewelry. It’s the largest, and most premier, jewelry company in the United States, having provided jewels for all the major Hollywood events. Richard Midas had based his company in New York since the very beginning, and Robin was shocked the day Midas himself reached out to hire him, claiming he’d seen the brilliant work Robin had put out over the last few years, and wanted to have him draw up some billboard advertisements. It worked out in the end, though, with Midas giving Robin a major discount on Regina’s highest quality engagement ring. _

_Things were going well on the business and home front, despite being so busy that they hadn’t had quite as much alone time as they normally do, so a vacation was definitely in order._

_“That sounds fun,” he tells her, pointing then clicking on the information page she has pulled up to read about the adult nightlife provided on a children’s cruise. He’s surprised to see there’s so much to do each night for adults, assuming he was going to be stuck listening to ‘Let it Go’ on repeat for three days straight._

_She hums in agreement, saying the boys are going to love it but, “I’m excited for some time alone with you, too.” Kissing his lips gently as she closes the laptop, she goes on to say, “I hope Tink can go with us.”_

_“Mmm, me too, darling. I’m sure if she asks her boss nicely, she’ll let her go.”_

_She chuckles at that, leaning over to set the laptop on the floor next to their bed._

_Tink had graduated and completed her internship at Regina’s company a few months ago, and he’d been more than happy when Regina hired his nanny straight away. She claimed she was the best fit for the job, and he has no doubt that is true. Tink has always been passionate about interior decorating, always helping him fix his office until the day she encouraged him to hire Regina._

_“I think her boss might be agreeable to that.”_

_He huffs out a laugh as she turns to face him, cuddling into him so their noses are almost touching. She smiles sleepily up at him as he bumps his nose against hers._

_He takes her left hand in his, letting his thumb strum over the diamond that now rests on her ring finger. “I love you.”_

_She shifts her eyes from where she’d been watching his thumb up to his face and smiles. “I love you, too.”_

_Stretching and reaching behind him, he turns the bedside lamp off before turning back to face Regina and wrap his arm around her middle. She turns so her back is pressed against his front and he sighs contentedly._

_Whispering a soft goodnight, he drifts off to sleep._

“There she is!” Henry exclaims, pointing in the direction of their blonde friend, curls bouncing all around her face as she jogs to catch up with his family.

“Sorry,” she pants, adjusting her grip on her rolling suitcase. “I overslept."

“That’s okay, Tink,” Roland tells her sweetly, leaving Regina’s side to take the girl’s hand.

They finally make their way to the dock, where he looks over to make sure both boys have ahold of an adult’s hand. There’s more people than he expected trying to board the ship at one time, which he’s afraid might worry Regina more than necessary. He notes that she’s taken hold of his hand and is squeezing just a bit tighter than normal.

Robin looks over at her then and smiles sympathetically. He tightens his fingers around her grip comfortingly and says, “It’s going to be okay, baby.”

She breathes out a relaxed breath at his contact, assuring him she is fine. “I’ll feel better once we’re on the boat and can walk around.”

He nods his head as they approach the entrance. She hands him the tickets, and he hands them to the man collecting them, before they climb the ramp and enter the most magical place they could find in New York.

Next stop, Canada.

{***************************}

As they make their way to their rooms, Tink’s right next door to Regina’s family, she can’t help but to laugh at Roland and Henry’s excitement. Every room or hallway they passed was decorated gorgeously. Large chandeliers and golden pillars, Mickey Mouse shaped windows and pools, and employees dressed as all their favorite Disney characters walking around and greeting the children they met.

Roland was already asking if they could go swim in the Mickey pool, while Henry was asking to go check out the _Avenger’s Academy_ on the first floor.

“Let’s get our things put away first, boys,” Robin chuckles, placing his hand on the small of her back. He looks down at her, whispering in her ear to check that she is okay.

The thought of being surrounded by water, and thoughts of _Titanic_ stuck in her mind, didn’t do much to quiet her anxiety. Walking inside the ship, though, seemed to help a lot. It was immaculately decorated, so much so that you almost forgot where you were. It looked more like an upscale hotel than a boat.

“Okay,” Henry says, taking Roland’s hand and whispering in his ear. The younger boy giggles, and Regina smiles at their interaction. She’s so glad that despite their five year age difference, they’ve always gotten along so well.

When they walk into their suite, Regina’s jaw drops. They’re standing in a small living space equipped with a couch and two chairs facing a flat screen television (which she can already tell will not even be a thought in the boys’ minds on this trip). There’s a kitchen connected to the living space with a dark, wooden table and four chairs.

The boys run in, heading straight to the room on the right of the kitchen and living room area. Robin takes her duffle bags from her, slinging it over his other shoulder and walking to the master bedroom to the left of the living space, two large suitcases rolling behind him.

She follows the boys and is impressed with their room as soon as she walks in. The interior decorator inside her is squealing with excitement at all the little details they’ve put into these rooms. The boys’ room has two twin beds covered in white and red checkered comforters, which upon further inspection she realizes are actually tiny Mickey Mouse heads.

As she’s looking around, she hears Roland gasp. Moving her eyes over to him, she notices his eyes are wide and staring up at the ceiling.

“Wha—,” her question is cut short when she notices their ceiling is lined with faux stars; its a navy blue ceiling with tiny stars drawn onto it. The constellations above their individual beds are shaped like different characters.

“Robin Hood, Mom!” her youngest boy shouts. His slip of _mom_ always makes her smile, reminding her so much of Henry. He’d started calling her that more and more lately, and she’d been worried at first that Robin would be upset; she didn’t want him to feel like Roland was replacing Marian in his mind, but Robin, like always, was sweet and comforting, promising her that it didn’t offend him. He claimed that he loved that Roland cared about her enough to call her that.

“I see, baby!” she says excitedly, walking closer to his bed to get a better look. “Who do you have, Henry?”

She walks the few steps that separate the boys’ beds and peers up at Henry’s portion of ceiling.

“Peter Pan!”

They all laugh and point at the constellations some more before Henry claims that he’s hungry and wants to go explore.

Sighing, knowing that her plan to spend some time unpacking was quickly dwindling away, she suggests that the boys go next door to Tink’s room for a few minutes while she and Robin get things settled in their suite. Hopefully getting to explore another room will keep them entertained for at least a little bit longer.

The boys shout excited twin _Okays_ before running into the living room and going right next door to Tink’s room.

Regina shakes her head playfully behind them, walking across the living room area to the master bedroom.

It’s just as beautiful as the rest of the suite has been, and she’s reminded how lucky she is that Robin was willing to go all out on this trip. He laughed one night saying he didn’t want them all to be cramped, and he wanted a good view of the water from their balcony; money wasn’t an issue anyway for him, so she’d eventually agreed that it would be nice to have more space.

“This is gorgeous,” she says, plopping down next to him on their bed. She sinks right down into the mattress, letting out a gloriously relaxed sigh. She’s suddenly now very excited for bedtime tonight. This bed feels like she’s laying on a cloud beneath her.

His eyes open, turning his head to look at her. He breathes out a _yeah, it is_ before looking back toward the ceiling and then closing his eyes.

She giggles quietly to herself, knowing that he is already exhausted. They’d had to get up early this morning to make sure everything was loaded and ready to go for the three hour car ride, and he’d worked late last night, making sure everything was settled at his office since he would be unavailable to his employees over the weekend.

She curls into his side, laying her head on his shoulder. “You tired?”

He chuckles under his breath, saying, “It’s not even noon and I could go to sleep.”

She smiles into his chest, placing a kiss to his shoulder. She looks up, noting that their ceiling isn’t lined with the stars and character constellations. She tells Robin about the boys’ room, saying they were excited to have characters on the ceiling, and he laughs, saying he’s positive Roland will stare at it all night long.

Laughing, she sits up, using his chest to push off of. She sighs, looking around the large room. As if the other parts of the suite weren’t enough, their room has a king sized bed facing another large, flat screen television, a couch to the left of their bed that faces two chairs, the balcony on the other side of that sitting area, and a large master bath to the right of the bed. The colors are the same as the other room, red and white with some black accents, and she finds, though it’s not her go to color scheme to work with, she likes it. It works for this setting.

She stands from the bed, stretching her back and walking toward the balcony. She isn’t sure how much time she’ll spend on it, seeing as the watery depths below terrify her, but she’s here, so she might as well look.

Sliding the glass door open, she steps outside, taking in a deep breath. The boat has yet to set sail so there’s not as much movement right now, which is good. The air smells of salt and sunscreen, and the breeze blows through her hair, causing it to curl up on the ends.

She feels two strong arms wrap around her, and she smiles, placing her hands over his forearms. They stand there for a beat in silence, rocking back and forth. She rubs over his arms and sighs. “This is nice.”

“Mmm,” he hums, trailing his lips along the shell of her ear. “It is." 

He kisses her neck, letting his lips linger there as he breathes her in. She loves Robin so much, more than she ever imagined a year ago when he took her on their first date, and she loves these quiet little moments they always share. Hopes that twenty years from now, he’ll still be breathing in her scent like it’s the first time and dotting little pecks to her neck like he is now.

“Where are the boys?”

She opens her eyes and turns in his arms, wrapping hers around his neck. “I let them go explore the ship.”

His eyes widen slightly, and she laughs, assuring him they’re simply next door in Tink’s room.

He laughs then, leaning in to press a soft kiss to her lips. When he pulls back from the kiss, she leans in, pressing a deeper one to his lips. Their lips stay locked together for a few moments, sliding against each other’s. A moan escapes from the back of his throat as he parts his lips, letting his tongue slip into her mouth. Just as her hand leaves the base of his neck and starts to make its descent down to his rear, the large fog horn of the boat blares, causing them to startle and jump apart.

Clutching her chest, they both laugh as Robin takes her hand in his, pulling her back into the room. “Come on,” he says, sliding the balcony door shut, “let’s get the boys and Tink and head downstairs. I think that horn means the ship is about to set sail.”

Hours later, once the ship has been explored as much as possible, and they’ve enjoyed their first dinner on board at Tiana’s Place, they make their way to the main deck.

They’d discussed at dinner what they wanted to do that evening. They’d spent the day hoping from pool to pool so Robin and the boys could swim in every pool they could find, while Regina and Tink worked on their tans. She’d gotten in a few times to play and splash around, admitting that the cool water felt great against her heated skin. And they’d all enjoyed zooming down the water slide that made several loops above the pool. While the part of the slide that stuck out over the side of the ship was slightly terrifying, the fact that the slide was enclosed all the way around made her feel much better. In the end, the slide was a huge hit with everyone and she even went with Roland a few more times, his hands gripped tightly to her knees as his squeals reverberated around the inside of the slide.

Henry had also convinced them to explore the Oceaneers Lab, a room designated for children three years to twelve years old, perfectly encompassing both he and Roland, where they could play interactive games with their favorite characters and perform science experiments together. They’d gone after everyone had showered and redressed after their afternoon of swimming and before making their way to dinner.

Dinner consisted of traditional Bayou food, like jambalaya and more seafood than they ever thought could fit inside all their bellies. There was also festive jazz music playing, while a girl, dressed as Tiana, sang on stage.

Their plan for after dinner was to go see _Tangled: The Musical_ , Roland claiming he wanted to see Eugene hit the bad guys with the frying pan. Those plans are squashed, however, the moment they walk passed the Avengers Academy and the boys remember it was there.

“Let’s go in there, Mom!” Henry exclaims, pulling her toward the entrance.

It is accompanied by Roland’s shouts of _yeah, come on, Papa! Tink!_

As they make their way inside, everyone stands frozen in the doorway. She didn’t think things like this were possible on a cruise ship, but Disney has proven her wrong once again.

The academy is two stories, all the walls covered in silver steel. Directly in front of them rests the “Avengers Academy” sign, which is next to a large Iron Man suit and Captain America shield.

There are boys and girls running all about with their parents, while some guardians sit on the benches by the front and watch their children from a distance.

They make their way through the first floor, exploring the academy for a good hour, looking at all the Avengers gear and large memorabilia, taking pictures of the boys posing with all the superhero artifacts they are allowed to touch because Regina just _has_ to post this cuteness to her Instagram page.

Her favorite part is watching Robin and Tink act like the children as they make their way to the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. desk, playfully shoving each other, discussing all the ways they would capture the bad guys. Here, they are all given agent badges and identities. They are escorted up the stairs with their tour guide and a small group of families where they find a large S.H.I.E.L.D. desk, full of computers and large monitors up on the walls showing their latest case. The guide tells them of the newest villain that has come to Earth to destroy it and it is up to them to stop him before he makes it to New York.

The whole thing reminded her of one of those Escape Room places she and Robin had gone to on a date night a few months back. They all slip their badges onto their clothing and start exploring. There are employees dressed as agents, helping to man the computer stations. They split up for a while, Regina and Robin taking Roland over to the computers to explore, while Tink and Henry go off to try and see what the smaller rooms have to offer.

After a few minutes, Henry and Tink come back excitedly, telling them that one of the rooms has laser tag in it where they are needed to help take down some of the bad guy’s friends. Roland’s face lights up at that, hurriedly clicking out of the computer he had been using (where he was designing his very own superhero outfit), and jumps up.

“Let’s go do that!”

Walking up the stairs, they make their way to the laser room. They are each given a vest and a laser tag gun, and told that they have to defeat the other team to help the Avengers.

“Here, let me help,” Robin says, leaning down to fasten Roland’s vest to his chest. “You ready?”

“All ready, Papa!”

She smirks over Roland’s head in Robin’s direction. She can tell Roland is a little nervous, never having played laser tag before and not knowing what might jump out at him, based on the way he is wringing his hands together nervously as Robin fixes his vest.

Regina takes his small hand in hers, whispering that she needs a buddy while they are in there.

Roland looks over at her at, scrunching his eyebrows before smoothing them out and very seriously telling her, “I’ll protect you, Mom.”

She smiles, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. When she looks up, she spots Robin checking that Henry has his vest on and then the two of them point their laser guns at each other, pretending to take the other down dramatically.

Catching Tink’s eyes, they both smirk and roll their eyes in unison before walking toward her guys.

“Everyone ready?”

At all their _yes_ ’s, the five of them make their way inside. Once there, they all hide behind large, foam rocks, shooting their lasers out when the other team comes closer. The dark, mixed with the loud sounds, scares Roland at first and she spends the first few minutes rocking him in her arms in a neutral corner until Henry comes over and takes his hand. The boys run off together, and a few moments later, she can hear Roland’s laughter ring out from the other side of the room.

She meets up with Robin, letting him know Roland is fine, before they find Tink and they all make their way through the maze of obstacles, taking down the other team and getting hit with laser notches as they go.

At one point, Robin and Regina find themselves huddled in a corner, devising a plan to take down the other team members that are left. He assures her he can get to the one they spot hiding behind a large foam wall, while Regina says she can get to him from her angle. Robin tells her they can tag team, flanking the person on either side.

“Just don’t get in my way,” she warns, saying she doesn’t want to hit him on accident and mess up their sore. She runs off to prepare for their enemy take down and turns around quickly to check on Robin, making sure he’s going to the other side to complete their mission.

He’s laughing heartily instead, holding his gun up and placing his other hand on his heart. “I wouldn’t dream of it!”

In the end, their team wins by twenty-three points, causing excited shouts to bubble out from all of them. They make their way out of the room after hanging up their vests and guns, sighing as the loud music from inside the room silences.

“Now what?” Roland asks, looking around at all the parts of the academy they’ve yet to explore.

Tink excuses herself, saying she’s going to head out to the Disney Beverage Tasting, an adult event that started about ten minutes ago. Smirking, Regina nods, telling her to go have fun.

“I will!” she laughs, wiggling her eyebrows and leaning down to hug the boys. “You guys have fun taking down the bad guys!”

They wave goodbye as Henry and Roland exclaim a jolly _We will!_

They spend the next twenty minutes walking in and out of the other rooms on the second floor. Most of them are all part of the museum portion of the attraction, giving them information about each Avenger. There’s a room for each character, and they find themselves spending most of their time in Iron Man and the Hulk’s room (the boys’ favorite Avengers respectively).

As they make their way out of the Academy and back onto the deck, they listen as Henry rambles on about all the exciting things he learned about each character, saying he wants to go write down some things when he gets in bed tonight before he forgets so he can include them in his latest superhero writing he’s doing at home.

While walking hand in hand, with the boys a few steps ahead of them pointing excitedly at everything they had missed earlier today during their exploration of the ship, Regina sighs and leans her head on Robin’s shoulder.

“That was fun,” she says as he kisses the top of her head.

He hums his agreement, saying he had a lot of fun. “We’ll have to do it again before we leave if we have time.”

She nods, righting her head again. Robin asks if she’s feeling better, to which she tells him she is. She’d felt a little sick before dinner, thinking the rocking of the boat was finally getting to her, but she’s felt fine since she got food on her stomach.

They stop and let the boys go into the candy store on the second floor of the ship, each of them filling a bag of their favorite treats, before they finally make it to their room for the night.

Having showered earlier, she deems it appropriate for the boys to go to bed sans shower tonight. It’s late, not too terribly late, but later than the boys normally go to bed. Roland still conks out around nine even on the weekends, while Henry can usually make himself stay up until about ten on most weekends. It’s nearing ten now, so she’s surprised the grumpiness hasn’t set in yet, especially from the youngest of their group. They both cheer happily about not having to bathe before Roland asks if they can eat their candy. It doesn’t go unnoticed by her that his question is accompanied by Henry’s pleading puppy dog eyes.

She shakes her head playfully and inhales deeply, looking over the Robin. He’s made his way to the couch in the living room, while she stands in between the kitchen and living space with her hands on her hips. Robin looks at her with a sly grin, sneaking a piece of his own gummy worm into his mouth behind the boys’ backs, and just shrugs at her. Regina chuckles at him before looking back to the boys.

“You can each have _two_ pieces.”

They let out matching _wahoo’s_ and run over to the kitchen table, picking up their bags and choosing which pieces they want to enjoy tonight.

She joins Robin on the couch, and he wraps his arm around her shoulder. Too tired and too worn out to even turn on the television, they just sit there in silence, her head in the crook of his neck, while their sons munch happily on their candy.

After a while, Robin says they need to do a peach and a pit each night before going to bed. It’s a tradition he’s always had with Roland after every trip they go on, so she and Henry had joined in after their first vacation together as a family. At the end of each trip, they all go around and give a peach, something they loved, and a pit, something they wish had been different about their trip.

“I’ll start!” Henry says, swallowing the last of his candy and coming to sit criss cross in one of the chairs in the living room. He goes on to say his peach was defeating the villain in the Avengers Academy, which doesn’t surprise her in the least bit, and he claims his pit was the food at dinner. He says it had been good, but he wants to find a restaurant on board tomorrow that has hamburgers.

She smiles brightly, agreeing that a hamburger sounds delicious. “What about you, Roland?”

The little boy brushes his hands off on his jeans and walks over to the living room, sitting in the other chair. “I really liked swimming in Mickey’s ears today!” he giggles.

Robin snorts next to her, telling Roland he’s glad Mickey’s ear was big enough for all of them, causing his son to burst into a fit of laughter.

Shaking her head, she leans her head up from his shoulder to look at him. He’s smirking that damn adorable smirk of his, and she can’t help but to lean in and kiss the side of his mouth.

The kiss is met with _ewwww’s_ from the boys, so they laugh and she pulls away, sitting up to sit criss cross on the couch. Her knee is pressed into Robin’s thigh, and he gives it a little squeeze before asking Roland what his pit was.

He thinks for a moment, lips twisting in concentration. “I liked everything!”

Giggling, she tells him that that’s okay. That just means he had a great day.

“What about you, Mom? What was your peach and pit today?” Henry asks, stretching his legs out to rest his bare feet on the coffee table in front of him.

“Let’s see,” she trails off, thinking back over this long and exhausting day. “My peach was getting to see you boys laugh and have so much fun.”

She smiles goofily at Henry’s eye roll before going on. “My pit was having to sit in the car for three hours to get here.”

They all chuckle, Roland claiming the car ride wasn’t bad for him because he got to watch _two whole movies!_

She turns her head in Robin’s direction, tapping his nose and asking him for his peach and pit. He breathes in cautiously, exhaling slowly while he thinks, and then finally says, “My peach was definitely Tiana’s Place. My jambalaya was so bloody good… but I also loved the Avengers Academy.”

Henry _yeahs_ at that with the manliest fist bump into the air he can manage before Robin says his pit was, “One hundred percent having to get up so early this morning.” He caps off his answer with a groan, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the back of the couch.

Regina rubs his stomach gingerly, knowing that he has to be exhausted. He’d gotten up earlier than the rest of them after working late last night, and he’d been the one to drive the whole three hours. She told him over and over again that she would drive, but he kept teasing that she drove too slow for him and he wanted to get to the ship _today_.

“Let’s get you boys ready for bed,” she declares, standing from the couch. “You stay here, baby, and relax, I’ll get them tucked in.” Henry and Roland stand, saying goodnight to Robin. Roland climbs up on the couch, patting Robin’s cheek and placing a soft little kiss to it before scampering into his bedroom.

After tucking each boy in, marveling at thier constellation ceilings with them again and giving them each a goodnight kiss, she makes her way back into the living room after shutting their door softly.

When she steps into the living space, she makes her way to the refrigerator, taking out two of the bottles of water they had packed. She knew they’d be needing plenty of water to drink when they got back to the room each day, and she’d also brought breakfast items, like bananas and poptarts for them have so they didn’t have to get up early each morning to get downstairs for breakfast in the main dining hall.

Grabbing the waters, she turns to walk into the living room and sees Robin is asleep, his soft snores whispering their way through the living space. She smiles sympathetically and walks over to the couch. Setting the waters down on the coffee table, she lightly shakes Robin’s shoulder.

His eyes open groggily, and she whispers, “Ready for bed?”

Robin groans at that, voice already a little scratchy from sleep. “That would usually sound so much sexier coming from you, but right now, _yes_ , all I want to do is get in bed.”

She grins and huffs out a single chuckle. Pulling at his hand to help him stand. She picks up the waters again and follows him into the bedroom.

After handing him a bottle to keep on his side of the bed, she places hers down on her nightstand and tells him she’s going to shower. She asks if he wants to join her, not to seduce, just to save time and get clean, but he tells her he’s just going to change and climb into bed.

When she gets out of her shower, finally clean of all the sweat she’d gathered during their Avenger adventure, and all the salt that’d blown onto her skin tonight, she slips on her black cotton sleep shorts and a red tank top and crawls into bed.

Robin is already asleep, so she places a soft kiss to his cheek before plugging her phone in and opening up her photos from today. She spends a few minutes scrolling through and smiling at how cute Henry and Roland look in each one. She’d captured some good moments of them in the pools today, one of Henry screaming as he exited the water slide, and one of Ro being thrown into the air by Robin. She giggles faintly when she scrolls to the one of Roland with sauce all around his mouth at dinner as he held two thumbs up. She has a great shot Tink took of all four of them after dinner, all geared up to take down the villains at the Academy.

She clicks onto her Instagram and posts a few of her pictures, captioning it with _Day 1 of our Disney Cruise: Sun, Food, and the new, cutest Avengers!_ Before closing out her apps and setting an alarm for tomorrow. She’ll post the rest when they get back from their trip, but for now that’s good enough.

Robin’s back is facing her, so she rolls over, kissing his shoulder before rolling back to her side of the bed.

“G’night, love,” he slurs, turning to face her. He’s more than half asleep, and she’s convinced he might actually just be talking in his sleep, but she smiles sleepily in his direction anyway.

“Night, Robin.”

He leans closer then, his limbs visibly heavy from sleep and places a kiss to her lips.

They mumble their tired _I love yous_ before they both fall into a heavy, exhausted sleep for the rest of the night.

It was a great first day of their weekend getaway and she’s excited to see what tomorrow holds.  


{**************************************}

The next day is filled with more swimming in the morning time. Later in the afternoon they went to go see _Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular_ , where they got to see a song and dance version of the Disney classic, one that’s been playing at their house more and more lately. Henry likes the adventure of it all, while Roland likes Abu and the carpet. It was a cute show, an entertaining way to spend the afternoon.

The ship had made port in Nova Scotia for a few hours later in the day, so they were able to escape the constant rocking and explore solid ground. The boys seemed a little bored, especially after spending their first day completing so many exciting tasks. So, after exploring a flower garden for Regina, Robin had made it his mission to find something for the boys to do.

Robin informed Regina and Tink that they were going to have a _man’s afternoon_ , leaving the girls to explore on their own (and judging by the shopping bags they both brought back, they found plenty of ways to keep themselves busy for a few hours).

He’d discovered a park not too far from where they’d docked, so he and the boys made their way over, finding the park had a wooded trail they could walk along. Henry and Roland were able to find different bugs to touch, and they eventually found a playground to spend some time on. All in all, it was a fun afternoon, more relaxed than the day before, but the boys claim they had a great time.

After loading back onto the ship, and Roland proclaiming to Regina that, “Mom! I got to touch _bugs_!” it was definitely bath time. She’d made Roland and Henry scrub their hands after their showers, claiming she was not taking any chances of being touched by bug guts.

Robin had laughed softly at her insistence, but then went and scrubbed his hands as well, not wanting to risk her banning his touches for the night.

Once they were all clean again, they walked around the boat, stopping in the play areas to let the boys play some more and get their energy out. They were leaving their sons in Tink’s care tonight so they could have date night, and he couldn’t wait.

“You ready?” He hears Regina ask, bringing his focus back to the here and now. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting while Regina finished her hair and makeup.

Looking up, the breath in his lungs escapes him in one fell swoop. Fuck. He is one lucky bastard. She’s standing before him in a black leather skirt that sits just above her knees and a cherry red tank top. A tank top that sits above the waist of her skirt, showing a sliver of skin between the leather and cotton, her toned, olive skin peeking out to give him a tease. Her hair has grown out more lately, she says she wants it to be longer for their wedding, so it’s sitting a few inches below her shoulders. It’s layered right now, and she’s curled the ends just a bit. He loves her curls, so he’s always happy when she doesn’t fully straighten it.

“Christ, love,” he exhales, standing up from the bed to meet her across the room. He takes her hands in his, bring them up to kiss her knuckles. “You’re stunning… in every way.”

She blushes, lowering her chin before looking up at him. “Thank you.” She leans up on the toes of her knee high boots, pecking his lips. “I brought this,” she says holding up a black jacket. “It’s been so cold out on the deck each night with the wind blowing over the water.”

He smiles, agreeing that despite being summer, there’s definitely a chill in the night air. He takes her jacket for her, kissing her again before pulling away and saying cheekily, “You’ve got me feeling underdressed.”

Regina grins, saying he looks great. There’s a dress code at the restaurant, anyway, so he’d had to make sure his clothing fit the description earlier. He’d chosen to wear his darkest wash denim and a forest green button up, tucked in. Casual, but dressy enough for date night. He grabs his leather jacket off the bed and slings it on, confirming her earlier question that he is ready.

She nods, turning her body to walk out the door. “Fuck, babe,” he groans, shaking his head at the beauty that is her ass, so perfectly round and fits into his hands like it was made for him to grasp. Her red tank top has a sliver cut out in the back that is covered with black lace, giving him a tiny peek at the skin beneath it. “The back view is even better.”

She chuckles out a _Robin, quit_ as she rolls her eyes. He comes closer, wrapping his arms around her middle from behind, pulling her hair to one side so he can suck on her pulse point at her neck.

Regina hisses at the sensation, gripping his arms and moaning. “We’re never going to get to dinner if you keep doing that.”

He grunts, kisses her neck, and says, “I’ve got something right here that I’d like to have for dinner.”

Laughing, she turns in his arms to face him. He strums his hand along her lower back that is on display in this outfit as she swats his chest, proclaiming, “Well, _I’d_ like to eat real food before we have… _dessert_.”

Smirking, he tells her she’s a little tease, and she takes her jacket from where he’s thrown it on the bed in his hurried attempt to wrap her up and keep her there all night.

She puts her jacket on, and they make their way out, stopping by Tink’s room to check on the boys one last time before heading to dinner. This time they go to Palo, the ship’s premiere Italian restaurant.

Once seated, he looks around. Everything on this ship is spectacularly decorated, every square inch perfectly planned out. He smiles to himself, thinking how much his inner monologue now sounds like Regina thanks to all her decorating tips and their late nights watching House Hunters together.

“This place is gorgeous,” she says, taking a sip of the water the waiter had greeted them with a few moments ago.

He agrees, saying it’s a nice atmosphere. There aren’t many families here; they’d come after the boys had been fed, hoping to miss most of the rambunctious children at the restaurant. It’s already nearing eight, and he’s glad to see that plan seems to have worked out.

He only spies one family off in a back corner, so for the most part, the restaurant is quiet, just filled with the murmurings of the surrounding couples.

There’s a small band, consisting of a bass, piano, two acoustic guitarists and a lone vocalist, playing music and giving the whole place a calm vibe. The elongated windows overlook the water, which he can barely see since the sun has already set.

The friendly waiter comes and takes their order after a few moments; Robin orders the penne alfredo, while Regina asks for the spaghetti classico. Robin also orders them a bottle of their finest red Zinfandel to accompany their meals.

“I’m glad we got away for the weekend with the boys,” Regina admits, fixing the napkin in front of her. He reaches out, intertwining their fingers and looking into her eyes.

“Me too, darling. Work has been insane lately.”

She sighs at that, sitting back a touch but not disconnecting their hands. He knows the mayor’s houses have kept her plenty busy, and definitely stressed out, trying to make them perfect for the biggest client she’s ever had. He’s been just as busy wrapping up his print ads for Regina’s company, Storybook Décor, that will run starting in the fall. She’d hired him after she completed another hefty project, and had another design magazine name her one of New York’s leading interior decorators. Regina decided to hire Robin’s company to draw up advertisements to run in the local newspapers and help spread the word even more. Along with that he’d been working on a project for Richard Midas’ jewelry company, so they’d been busy to say the least and haven’t had a lot of time together lately.

Robin strongly believes in courting the one you love, even when you’re in a committed relationship. He and Regina promised each other that they would always make time for just the two of them - a time to set aside each week to go do something together as date night. They’d done anything and everything from dinner, to an Escape Room, the movies, strolling in the moonlight… The past few weeks, however, with work being so crazy, their date nights have mainly consisted of putting the boys to bed a little early and watching a movie together on the sofa. Not a terrible way to unwind and be together, but he loves Regina, and he wants to make her feel special. So, taking her out like this is always on the top of his priority list.

“It really has been.” She rubs her thumb along the back of his hand, saying, “I’m happy we found a night for just us, too.”

He smiles, caressing the back of her hand. “You’re always my top priority, Regina, you know that, right?”

“Of course,” she vows, sitting up straighter. “And I love you for it, Robin. You always make me feel important.”

“Good then,” he says, breaking their hand’s contact long enough to straighten the table for the waiter as he sits down a bucket for their wine bottle.

After tasting the Zinfandel and declaring it perfect for them, the waiter pours their drinks and leaves after assuring them their food would be out soon.

“You _are_ important to me, my love, so I’m glad to hear I’m doing my job.”

She giggles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He picks up her hand again, giving it a light squeeze. They sit for a while, listening to the music and discussing what they want to do tomorrow on their last day.

A few moments later, the waiter brings their food and they dig in.

“This is delicious,” Regina says after swallowing her first bite. “Even better than mine!”

Robin scoffs an, “Impossible,” as she lifts her fork to his lips, nodding her head as encouragement to take a bite and find out for himself.

He leans into the table a bit, wrapping his lips around the fork and pulling the bite into his mouth. Damn. It really _is_ delicious. Regina’s cooking far surpasses his own ability, especially her Italian and Mexican dishes she loves to make, but this is superb.

“Fuck, that’s good,” he mutters deeply. Regina chuckles, wrapping another bite of noodle around her fork and taking the bite. She nods, and after swallowing again, says, “Right?”

His food is just as splendid, and he lets Regina take a few bites of his dish as well. She groans in satisfaction after tasting it, saying she needs to look up a penne alfredo recipe on Pinterest for them to try and make one night.

“Our next date night, yeah?”

She grins, agreeing they can definitely make a date night out of cooking a new recipe together.

They take a few more bites, Robin almost done with his meal already, enjoying a companionable silence. Regina is looking around, no doubt making mental notes of ways to incorporate some of these design elements into some of her upcoming projects. She does that each time they go to a new restaurant, always looking for inspiration and ways to improve her craft.

“I’m so glad we’re almost done at the mayor’s mansion,” she says after finishing her last bite of pasta. “Mary Margaret was going this weekend to add the last few pieces, and then we’ll reveal it to him on Tuesday.”

He picks up a breadstick, savoring the buttery goodness that drips down his throat. He hums in delight at the bread and her statement, glad that she’ll be free of such a lofty project. “That’s amazing, love. I can’t believe it’s almost over.”

She’s been working on the mansions for months now, has been stressing herself over making everything just right, like always, so it’s always nice when she can get another project finished and relax a little, only working on smaller ones for a few weeks.

“I can actually start making some real wedding plans,” she tells him, smiling brightly. “Not just pinning stuff to my wedding board online!”

He chuckles, saying he’ll be glad she can work on it, too. “I know you’ve been wanting time to really set some things up since we got engaged, so that’ll be nice. I’ll help in whatever way you tell me to.”

Laughing, she thanks him, saying she’ll let him know when she’s ready for his help. “I’m going to get some things picked out next week, maybe the flowers I want, and then we can go cake tasting next weekend if they have an open appointment.”

“Cake testing?” he asks. “Sounds like a perfect job for me!”

He finishes another breadstick while Regina smirks coyly at him and sips on her wine. She slides her foot under the table to run across his leg, sending a shiver down his spine.

Bloody minx.

He bites his lip and stares into her deep brown eyes. “You’re playing with fire.”

“I love fire,” she replies with a rasp to her voice, lifting her eyebrows suggestively. He knows that voice. It’s the voice she uses when she’s thinking of them, tangled together with naked limbs; a vision he’s been having since the moment she walked out of the bathroom tonight in that damn leather skirt.

“Let’s get out of here,” he says lowly, thanking all the gods above that their meals are included in the cruise package they bought. They’ll end up just paying for the bottle of wine tomorrow when it’s time to leave. Placing a twenty dollar bill down on the table as the waiter’s tip, he pushes his chair back and extends his hand for her to take. “Perhaps I can take you for a walk in the moonlight?”

She smiles evasively up at him. “Perhaps,” she replies, taking his hand and standing. They make their way out onto the deck, arms wrapped around each other’s waists.

It’s cool out tonight, cooler than it was last night, so he lifts his arm from around her waist to go around her shoulders, pulling her closer in an attempt to keep her warm.

They stop in at the candy store, picking up a s’more flavored marshmallow for each of their sons.

On their way up to the room, their hands grasp each other’s, fingers interlocking in a warm embrace. He’s always been amazed with how perfectly their hands fit together, how every part of them fits together. Every bit of her was made for him - heart, body and soul. That’s one of the reasons he didn’t feel the need to wait any longer to propose to her.

Sure, they’ve only been together for a little over a year, but they just knew right away even back then that this was something special. They’d agreed to move in together last summer, a few weeks after Henry came back from his Young Authors Camp, and things had just felt so right from the very first day of living together. Not that he expected anything else. They were meant to be together, it just made sense.

Before they can make it to their room, he looks around, noticing they are on a secluded stretch of boat deck. The only thing around them is the railing on one side and a row of lounge chairs on the other. No kids. No other adults. All the nightlife is either behind them or on the floors below and above them.

It’s a dimly lit part of the boat, so he thinks she might just be okay with a public makeout session if she doesn’t fear getting caught like she normally would.

He stops walking, pulling on her hand to silently ask her to stop as well. He sets the marshmallows down on the closest chair and puts his hands on her hips.

“What’re you doing?” she intones, narrowing her eyes in mock suspicion.

He leans in and places his lips to hers, letting it linger for a few beats. His hands grip her hips as he skims his mouth down her neck, placing open mouthed kisses to her skin before he pulls back with an innocent, “Kissing my fiancé.”

She shakes her head, with a chuckled, “We can’t make out in public, Robin.”

At that, she takes a look around them, checking for other passengers.

He dramatically looks from side to side as well, walking her back a few steps so her back presses up against the wall. “But,” he says, bringing one hand up to cup her neck and tangle his fingers in her hair. “If no one is around, then I _think,_ technically, it doesn’t count as making out in public.” He leans in then as she bites her lower lip, trying to hide the smile he sees blooming on her face.

She sighs, letting him kiss her again. His hand buries itself deeper into her hair as she lets one hand drift down to his hip as the other wraps around his arm, caressing it gently.

They stand there for a few moments, snogging away like horny teenagers, hidden by the shadows of the deck above them. They’re both fully aware that they will relinquish their position on the boat deck for their bed at some point soon, letting their naked limbs knead together in a heated, beautiful entanglement, but for right now he’s going to enjoy this tiny streak of uninhibited freedom she’s displaying.

She moans into his mouth as his free hand skims down her side, reaching around to grip her leather clad rear in his hand and pull her closer. She wraps her ankle around his calf and grips his hip tighter. Opening her mouth, she traces over his lips, seeking entrance. He gladly parts his lips, letting his tongue tangle with hers as he groans into her.

They break apart panting and breathing each other in. He presses his forehead against hers, breathing out slowly, trying to calm his beating heart. He’s already starting to tent in his jeans, and he needs them to make it back to the room before he’s walking around the cruise ship with a raging hard on for everyone to see.

“Robin,” she breathes, looking up into her eyes. Her hair is tousled and her lips are swollen from his kisses, pink rimming the edges of her mouth. “Let’s go to our room.”

Thinking back to when they were planning this trip, he remembers her wanting to check out the lounges they had for adults, so he murmurs, “I thought you wanted to go to Fathoms.”

She chuckles deeply into his ear, pulling him closer as she husks out, “I’d rather us enjoy our adult activities in our room, wouldn’t you?”

He kisses her forehead, pulling apart and bumping their noses together before chuckling out an, “Oh, most definitely.”

He steps away, giving her space to move off of the wall, and he takes her hand in his. They make it back to their room in record time.

Throwing the marshmallows on the kitchen table, they stumble to their room, discarding clothes as they go, but he strategically leaves her skirt on, wanting to enjoy stripping her of that piece of fabric once they’re on the bed.

Tink had told them earlier that she’d keep the boys in her room tonight for a slumber party. The couch in her room pulled out into a bed, so it was perfect for their sons to sleep on. And thank God, too, because he isn’t sure how quiet he’s going to be able to be tonight.

Making it to their bed, the back of his kees press into the mattress as Regina lightly pushes on his shoulders, sending him plopping down into the pillowy softness beneath him. She’s standing before him in just her bra and skirt, their shirts and jackets tossed away somewhere in the living room along with their shoes. He makes a mental note to get up in the morning and retrieve their discarded clothing before the boys get back.

She reaches behind her, unclasping her black bra and tossing it to the couch beside the bed.

Fuck. He loves her tits. Loves every part of her body.

She smirks down at him, reaching for the zipper of her skirt.

“No,” he says hotly, reaching out to grab her arms. “I want to do that one.”

Smiling, she tilts her head and leans down, pressing a kiss to his lips. “Alright, then.”

She turns around, pulling her hair to hang over one shoulder as she does so she can look back at him. She’s so damn sexy when she’s like this; he loves when she takes more control.

He licks his lips, scooting to the edge of the bed so his legs are on either side of her body. He pulls her back by her hips so she’s closer to him, and he place a kiss to the small of her back, making her visibly shiver. He reaches up to the zipper and takes it in hand, sliding it down slowly, revealing the glorious curve of her ass right in his line of view.

“You’re so gorgeous,” he whispers, rubbing a loving caress over her bum. She breathily giggles at this words, giving him a playful shimmy. He presses another kiss to her hip bone before she turns around.

She smiles down at him, placing her hands on his shoulders and giving him a gentle push back so he’s laying down on the mattress. Regina climbs on top of him, straddling his hips. He leans his neck up, and she leans down, meeting halfway to press their lips together. It’s so tender, and he’s reminded how much he loves this woman. She can be so soft and loving, and then other times they can have wild, passionate sex. It’s always something different with her, keeps him on his toes, and he loves it. Loves _her._

Regina feels behind her, reaching in his opened zipper to palm at his erection. He moans at the contact, letting his head fall back into the mattress again.

“I do believe,” she says huskily, gripping him and giving his member another slow, long stroke, “that I was promised dessert tonight.

He opens his eyes, smirking. He bites his lip, to which she bites hers in a mirroring effect, and he says, “Yes.” He sits up, wrapping his arms around her middle and flipping their bodies so he’s hovering above her. She wraps her fingers around his belt loops and tugs at his jeans, pushing them further down his hips. He stands quickly, throwing his jeans and boxers somewhere in the room. He climbs back on top of her as she spreads her legs, welcoming him into her warmth. She’s already so wet, he can feel it through the fabric of her black, lace thong when he reaches down to stroke her.  “I do believe you were.”

{**************************************}

The next morning, Regina is sitting at a dining table in the main breakfast room of the cruise ship with her family. When she and Robin picked the boys up earlier, Tink claimed she was going to sleep a little longer before getting up to pack her belongings before they made port back home in New York.

They ate breakfast in their room yesterday, but she and Robin decided to go all out on their last day aboard. They’re dining experience is complete with all the Disney characters walking around. There’s every princess Regina could think of, but they also have Prince Charming, Captain Hook, and Peter Pan, along with the Avengers to give the boys a thrill so early in the morning.

“Look over there, Ro!” Henry exclaims quietly, pointing to Captain America as he greets a young girl at the table next to them. “Mom, get your phone ready!”

She laughs, pulling her phone from her back pocket, assuring both boys that she is ready to snap their picture when he gets closer.

The waiter comes over then, taking their orders. Regina orders an omelette and a side of hashbrowns. She’s been watching her weight lately, not wanting to gain too much before the wedding, but she’s on vacation, so, she’ll eat a little bit more today and enjoy every last bite. Robin orders the Mickey Mouse special, complete with two pancakes in the shape of the iconic character, eggs, and bacon.

She orders Roland the kid’s version of Robin’s breakfast, with only one, smaller, Mickey shaped pancake. “Ro, do you want sausage or bacon?”

Regina looks up from her menu, realizing her youngest son has yet to answer. His eyes are glued to Captain America as he finishes up with the table next to them and starts toward their table.

Roland’s eye almost pop out of his head when the good captain greets their family, apologizing to the waitress for interrupting.

“Roland?” Robin asks, tapping his son’s hand. “Your mum asked you a question.”

Blinking slowly, the seven year old pulls his eyes away to look at Regina. He tells her, still in a daze, that he would like the sausage, before exclaiming, _You’re Captain America!_

The Disney employee smiles at Roland and Henry, sticking to his characters and agreeing that he is, in fact, Captain America.

Regina smirks across the table in Robin’s direction, who is trying his best to smother his laughter at their son’s inability to speak. Poor Roland looks like a shocked zombie, wide eyed and mouth hanging open.

She looks to her left where Henry sits to see that he looks just as amused as the rest of them, Captain America and their waitress included, at how stunned Roland appears to be. Henry is old enough now to know that this isn’t _really_ the superhero, he’s a fictional character in a movie, but she has to admit that this actor looks very similar to the one they’ve watched in all the movies. No wonder her youngest boy seems so surprised.

Henry clears his throat, telling the waitress that he wants to same thing but with bacon, extra crispy. She writes down their orders before smiling brightly and walking away.

The boys spend a few minutes talking with Cap while Regina records part of the interaction on her phone, knowing they’ll all want to watch this over and over again when they get home. Before the hero departs for the next table, she asks for a picture, to which he readily agrees.

The boys flank him on both sides, Robin joining them and standing on the other side of Henry. They all hold a thumbs up with excited smiles as Regina snaps the picture. It’s adorable, really, and she’s already making plans to print it out and frame it in her office.

They all sit back down, excitedly talking about what just happened, Roland still fully believing that was the _real_ Captain America.

The other three share a chuckle, before Robin changes the topic, telling them since it was their last day, it was time to do their peach and pit of the whole trip.

“I’ll go first!” Henry says, taking a sip of his chocolate milk and surprising Regina, and by the raised eyebrows of Robin, him too. Henry has always been the quieter one of the two boys, always sitting back and observing life around him, so she’s glad to see she doesn’t have to pry his answer from him.

“Alright, my boy,” Robin says, clapping him on the shoulder, and bringing a small smile to Regina’s face. Daniel is still Henry’s father, still comes around for his weekends now that he’s back from his stay in Maine where he sought help after his attack on her last summer, but it makes her happy to know Henry now also has Robin in his life. “What was your peach of the whole trip?”

Henry doesn’t take long to think before he says his peach was _definitely_ the Avengers Academy. He loved being able to pretend to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and break the case to take down the bad guy. Henry’s always loved superheroes and fairytales, so she’s not surprised at his answer in the least bit.

“And my pit…” he trails off, taking longer to think thing time. The waitress stops by their table, dropping off their food while Henry still thinks on his answer. Regina reaches over to Roland’s plate, cutting his pancake into smaller bites before monitoring him as he pours the syrup onto his breakfast.

Henry hums as he cuts his own pancake, still deciding on his pit. She leans over, rubbing his back soothingly before picking up the salt from the table to put on her omelette. “I’m not sure, actually. I guess going to that rose garden,” he shrugs, “that was pretty boring.”

She scoffs a laugh at that, nodding her head in his direction. She’d loved the garden, thought it was beautiful, and provided her with plenty of pictures to take back and use as inspiration in some of her designs, but she can understand how that would’ve been boring for an eleven year old.

They spend a few minutes enjoying their food before Robin asks Roland what his peach and pit were.

The boy swallows his bite of egg and chugs a sip of apple juice before declaring, “My peach was having Robin Hood on my ceiling!” He giggles at that, saying it was fun to look up at night and see that.

Robin looks over at her, their eyes connecting as they smile sweetly at each other. Regina looks toward Roland, running her fingers through his curly brown hair and asking him what his pit was.

He claims his pit was the day the boat stopped and they had to get off. “Not cause of the garden, even though that _was_ pretty boring,” he grins, stuffing another bite of egg into his mouth. He swallows and then says, “I just didn’t like not being on the boat. Why did we even have to stop?’

She chuckles to herself at how cute he is, and vaguely wonders if she’ll ever _not_ think Roland is adorable as Robin explains to the boys that the ship made port so that adults could get off and explore a new town, getting to sight see a place they might not have ever been to before.

“Oh,” Roland says, looking across the table to Henry, “so, boring adult stuff.”

The boys laugh together, leaning in closer to the table to high five each other as Robin just chuckles and shakes his head at their antics.

Looking around the table, letting her eyes linger on all three of her boys, she’s reminded of how lucky she is. She loves Robin, and Roland, and Henry. She can’t believe that she’s been blessed with such a beautiful family. She smiles to herself. A year ago, as she walked into Locksley Advertising, stepping out into the twenty-third floor, she never would’ve believed that it would lead to changing to rest of her life for the better. Her eyes mist over at the thought, and she quickly blinks the tears away before anyone can see them.

Catching Robin’s gaze, however, she knows she’s been caught. Always so perceptive of her and her emotions. His blue eyes send her a questioning look, one that she knows all too well to mean _Are you okay?_ She smiles demurely at him, nodding her head and reaching over to take his hand in hers. She gives it a tight squeeze, scrunching her nose up with a smile, before mouthing _I’m good_ and releasing his hand to take another bite of her food.

As they begin to slow down on their eating, Henry the first one to finish, he picks up his iPad mini to distract himself with. They’ve done well to stay as unplugged as possible on this trip, mainly bringing the iPads for the boys to play on during the car ride there and back. Henry’s device has stayed in the room until this morning, but she can’t really blame him. He’s practically a teenager, and she remembers how she was at his age, always wanting to talk to friends and pretend you didn’t find family bonding moments fun.

He surprises her, though, locking the iPad after a few minutes and placing it in her purse that rests by her feet.  He tells her he just wanted to check in on his video game that he and his best friend, Merlin, whom he’d met at his writers camp last summer, were playing together.

She promises him that he’s fine, she doesn’t mind. Henry smiles at her, leaning in to place a quick peck to her cheek, making her smile. Regina looks over to Robin, who is smiling back at her as he watches the moment unfold. Henry is still her sweet little prince, always so protective and observant of her, but he’s in middle school now, so his public displays of affection toward her are slowly dwindling, but she’ll take them when they come and cherish them forever.

“What was your peach and pit, Robin?” Henry asks, taking his last sip of chocolate milk.

Regina and both boys glance over to her fiancé as he swallows his final bite of pancake. “Well,” he breathes out, twisting his lips in thought. “I’d have to say I have two peaches.”

She narrows her eyes at that, wondering what his second one could be. She knows his first is going to be the Avenger’s Academy, just like Henry. He’d talked about it just as much as her son had. One thing he and Henry had bonded over the last year was their love for superheroes; Robin even took Henry to an Avenger’s marathon that played at the theatre closest to them a few weeks ago while she and Roland stayed home.

He confirms her suspicion when he tells the group that his first peach was the academy and laser tag, claiming it reminded him of playing laser tag as a kid with his brothers. “My other peach, though,” he says, locking eyes with Regina, “would be date night with your mum last night.”

The boys groan goodnaturedly at them, rolling their eyes as Regina blushes, tilting her head to one side and smiling brightly over at him. She bites her bottom lip, saying that was definitely a highlight of her trip, too.

At Roland’s _yuck!_ Robin laughs, ruffling the boy’s hair and telling him it’s not gross to be in love. “You’ll see one day.”

“No way!” Roland protests, causing the other three to smirk. She looks over the Henry who just shrugs, making her wonder if he and Paige Hatterton are more than just friends now that they’re in middle school. They’d become friends after working on a school project together last school year, and she’s the only girl he ever really talks about, so Regina is just... suspicious now. She makes a mental note to tell Robin that it might be time to have a serious talk with her son about girls, and everything that goes along with being a growing boy. She knows Daniel has talked to him a little bit, Henry coming home mortified one weekend after Daniel attempted to have the sex talk with him, but she thinks maybe coming from someone who isn’t his biological dad might not be as embarrassing.

Robin asks Regina what hers would be, and she thinks for a moment. This weekend get away may have been short, but she’s enjoyed so much of it. She always loves seeing her sons have fun and enjoy themselves, she loved getting a free night with Robing last night and the multiple, glorious orgasms he provided her with, and she’s loved having Tink with them.

“Well,” she says before reaching over and taking another sip of her coffee. “I’ve enjoyed getting so many pictures of you boys having fun!”

She picks up her phone from where it rests next to her plate, opening her photo album and showing the table some of her favorite pictures from the weekend. There’s one from the first day of Henry exploding out of the water slide, his gangly, teenage arms and legs all stretched out as his face displays an enormous smile. She can almost hear his screams of delight through the photograph.

She flips to the next one, showing them Roland smiling brightly as he points behind him to the stage where Aladdin and Jasmine are dancing with Genie and Abu. His little dimpled smile on full display, causing everyone to giggle at the picture as Roland exclaims _That was fun, too!_

Another favorite is the one Tink took of all four of them. They’re all dressed in nice clothes, taken just after dinner Saturday night before they went to the Avenger’s Academy. They all have serious looks on their faces, crouched over with their arms curled, showing off their muscles as they prepare to take down the villains. She also made sure Tink took one of the four of them smiling, so she had a cute picture to save as well.

There’s selfies she and Tink had taken by the pool the first day, and ones of them before dinner that night as well. Tink is more than just an employee to her, she’s a friend. She’s been a part of Robin and Roland’s life long before Regina even knew them, so she’s glad to have snapped some pictures of the younger woman with her and her family.

They all smile at the other pictures as Regina scrolls through, each one making a comment here or there of _Oh yeah!_ And _I loved doing that!_ Roland finally finishes his food, making her shake her head playfully. He’s always been the slowest eater, always being last to finish anytime they go out to eat. She’s partially convinced it’s because he loves to talk so much that he never gives himself enough time to eat in between each story he has to tell. She loves him for it, though, their little chatterbox, and she wouldn’t change it for anything.

After the waitress clears their table of all the plates, she looks around again at her family. She glances down at her cell phone, clicking on the home button to bring her lock screen to life. It’s almost ten a.m. and the ship is due to make it back to New York just after one o’clock. Her plan was to pack up majority of their belongings last night, but, well… she’d been quite _distracted_ by her gloriously naked fiancé. So, she needs to make sure they have enough time today to get everything packed up and ready to go.

“We have enough time to go do one more thing,” she tells the group, looking to and from each boy, “before we need to go pack up our things. What do you guys want to do?”

Henry, Roland, and Robin all glance at each other, seemingly having a conversation with each other in their minds. They all three begin to smile at the same time as they all say in unison _Avenger’s Academy!_

She chuckles and rolls her eyes, not surprised in the least bit at their choice. While the ship has been overloaded with princesses and princes, her boys were suckers for superheroes, no matter how much they enjoyed fairytales, too. Sure, Henry had begged her to take his picture with certain characters that he’s always loved, like Prince Charming and Woody, reminding her so much of his younger days when they’d cuddle on the couch together, spending weekends watching Toy Story and all the other classic Disney movies on repeat, or reading his favorite fairy tales together, but he’s older now and likes the action that comes along with the Avengers movies and comics.

“How did I know?” she laughs, bending down to pick up her purse and sling it across her body. “Come on, boys, let’s go beat the bad guys.”

“Yeah!” they all three shout together, standing from the table. Roland takes her hand in his, as she wraps her other arm around Henry’s shoulder. She turns her head, places a soft kiss to her son’s forehead and tells him _I love you_. He looks over at her, telling her he loves her, too, before disentangling from his hold and taking Roland’s free hand. He pulls the younger boy ahead of her so they can walk together.

Regina smiles, always so thankful that her son and Robin’s son get along so well. They’ve been thick as thieves, those two, have been since the very first day they met, and she hopes that never changes.

She feels Robin’s arm loop around her waist, and he presses a kiss to her cheek. “Penny for your thoughts, love?”

She hums contentedly as they make their way toward the academy. “I was just thinking how nice it is that the boys still get along.”

“Ah,” he sighs, glancing ahead of them at their sons. “I do love that, too.”

They walk in silence for a few moments, listening to the excited squeals of laughter echoing throughout the ship decks from all the giddy children and the ocean waves lapping against the side of the ship. She can’t believe that just two days ago, she’d been so afraid of coming on this boat. Aside from feeling a little motion sickness the first night before dinner, she’s been totally fine, almost forgetting they were even on a boat.

“I can’t wait to see them together when we have a little girl in our midst.”

She smirks at his words, jabbing him lightly in the stomach with her elbow. He’s always been so positive that when the time comes for them to have a baby that it’ll be a girl. She knows no matter what they have, the boys will love a new baby. “I’m pretty sure Roland would rather us get a puppy to start with, though.”

Robin laughs at that, rubbing a soothing pattern over his stomach before pulling her closer into his embrace. Humming, he agrees, but says Roland will be waiting a long time for that. They both had agreed the first time Roland asked for a dog that they wouldn’t be getting one until they decide to move out of the city and into a house with a backyard, if that ever happens. Their businesses are both located in the heart of the city, and they both love New York, so they don’t have any plans to move as of yet. Maybe having a new baby will eventually change that.

The boys stop dead in their tracks, taking notice of the Eye Scream Treats sign hanging above a doorway. They hadn’t noticed it the first night they explored this side of the ship. Henry spins on his heels, bringing Roland with him who still has a grip on his hand, asking if they have time to go in there _and_ do the academy.

Glancing at his watch, Robin looks at Regina, asking if they should have ice cream after having just eaten breakfast. It’s later in the morning, half past ten at this point, too early for such a sweet dessert normally, but she agrees with Robin’s argument that _we’re on vacation_. Robin looks toward the boys and says they can, “If you don’t take too much time eating your ice cream.” They all give Roland a pointed look, and he promises to be quick.

They make their way inside, Robin taking a picture of her and the boys in front of the large Mike Wazowski that stands in the front of the store. It’s a _Monster’s Inc_ themed shop, but all the flavors have something to do with different Disney characters. They look over the selections before each ordering a scoop of Disney flavored ice cream.

Regina goes for Snow White’s Poisoned Apple, while Robin and Henry each get The Jungle Book’s Bare Necessities, banana flavored ice cream with coconut and chocolate chips, which Regina is intrigued by. She leans into Robin’s back, resting her chin on his shoulder as she wraps her arms around his middle and whispers, “I want to taste that.” He turns his head, telling her cheekily that he’ll spare her a bite or two. He orders Roland a scoop of Timon and Pumba’s Grub, which is essentially just vanilla ice cream with gummy worms and other gummy candy shaped like bugs mixed in and crushed oreos on top.

They quickly make their way to a monster shaped table, Regina grabbing plenty of napkins on the way there. She and Robin sit next to each other as their sons climb into the chairs beside one another, giggling about the worms in Roland’s ice cream.

Robin scoops a bite of his dessert onto his spoon, offering it to Regina. Taking it, she lets the bite slip down her throat as she hums her approval. “That’s really good. I wasn’t expecting it to be _that_ good.”

They quickly make their way through their scoops of ice cream, all tasting each others and agreeing that Regina’s poisoned apple, apple flavored ice cream with apple chunks and a caramel drizzle, is the best.

Regina glances at her phone’s clock again, not wanting to run out of time, knowing the boys would be really disappointed if they didn’t get to go to the academy again before they needed to go pack. She wants to make sure they are in the room by noon so they have a good hour to pack, which means they only have about an hour to go through the academy. They can do it, she thinks, since they’ve already let Henry look at the museum part of the attraction the other night, which is what took so long. She stands, collecting their empty ice cream bowls as Robin takes the boys to the restroom.

Once they’re all finished, with promises of washed hands, the four of them make their way to the academy.

Walking there, the boys ahead of them once again, Robin takes her hand in his, giving her a light squeeze. “I love you,” he tells her, leaning in to press a kiss to the crown of her head.

She breathes out a relaxed breath, telling him, “I love you, too. So much.”

Regina picks up their conjoined hands and brings his arm to rest on her shoulders, keeping their fingers locked together. “The boys had such a good time. We need to plan another cruise at some point.”

“Mmm,” he hums. “I was thinking the same thing. Maybe a longer one next time, after the wedding and everything.”

Roland exclaims then that he sees the academy, and the boys quicken their steps. She’s glad they found a trip where this was an option for them, glad her boys are having the time of their lives.

She halts their walk just outside the academy’s doors. The boys are already inside, safely tucked away behind the glass doors so she knows where they are. She doesn’t want this trip to end so soon, and she’s overcome with how much she loves her family. She lifts up his arm that’s resting on her shoulder, ducking down to slip from under it. She brings their joined hand up to rest over her heart and leans up on her tiptoes.

Regina presses her lips to Robin’s, delicately, they are in public after all, and their boys can see them through the door. She’s pretty positive she can hear matching _ewww’s_ through the glass as well, causing a smile to bloom on her face. Robin presses his lips a little more firmly to hers, pushing out a moan from her that she didn’t mean to let go.

Pulling apart, she smiles sheepishly up at him. He shakes his head, murmuring into her ear that he can’t wait to get home tonight and have her all to himself. She agrees, leaning up to peck his cheek one last time. Before opening the door, she turns to Robin, placing a hand on his shoulder to make sure she has his attention.

“Hey,” she whispers. “Thank you for this trip, really. It’s just what we all needed.”

He smiles warmly at her at that, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into a tight hug. “It was, my love. It was a great vacation.”

They pull apart after another kiss to the top of her head and a drag of his nose along hers, opening the doors and joining their sons for one more take down of the bad guys.

A great vacation, indeed.

This weekend away was just what they needed to clear their minds of all the stress they’ve been under lately. Now, they can get back home and start planning their future. Together.


End file.
